America's Byways and National Wildlife Refuges
Ohio River Scenic Byway (Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio)

The Ohio River Scenic Byway, a historic 462-mile stretch of road that winds through America's heartland, has been used for commerce, travel, and as an important stop on the Underground Railroad. It also provides access to five National Wildlife Refuges. Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge, five miles north of the byway at Madison, Indiana, contains one of the largest contiguous forest blocks and grassland complexes in southeast Indiana. The Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, located 30 miles northwest from Madison, is home to archaeological sites included on the National Register of Historic Places. The third refuge in Indiana, located at the southern end of the byway, is the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, which houses over 380 species of wildlife. Covering 3,890 acres, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge sits nearly 25 miles north of the Illinois branch of the byway and includes three man-made lakes, hardwood and pine forests, rolling hills, and wetlands. Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge, located in Illinois at the southern end of the byway, claims some of the oldest living trees east of the Mississippi River, and it lies at a biological midpoint of North America -- one of only six areas in the United States where four of more physiographic regions overlap.

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